The walls of Crieff’s Strathearn Gallery will be adorned with the work of Scottish artist Helen Glassford until June 25.
The prolific artist – who lives in Fife, but spends her time travelling all over Scotland to capture the best of our stunning scenery – launched her first solo show at the gallery at the end of May.
She has recently found new audiences for her work through a solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery and the same gallery took her work to London for their Ten Years of Modern Masters, where her paintings joined prestigious names such as Joan Eardley, SJ Peploe and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham on the walls of Gallery 8.
Viewed as one of the rising stars of the Scottish art world, Helen grew up close to the Lake District. She says: “My parents were so enthusiastic and passionate about walking and being in the hills when we were growing up. They gave us some amazing experiences.”
She moved north to study painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee before completing a masters in fine art at the same establishment.
Now, she lives and paints from her home in Newport-on-Tay, where she is lucky enough to find daily inspiration in her surroundings.
“The light here on the Tay estuary is a constant inspiration,” enthuses the softly-spoken artist. “I look out of the studio window to the big skies and low horizon. The river offers an insight into how the wind is behaving in that moment, channels snaking and shifting with the air currents.
“The weather changes within minutes and, with it, the light and shadows. I have access to the windswept Fife beaches and hills.”
Helen also relishes the opportunity to hop into her campervan and head to more remote regions of Scotland.
“My work has continued to explore the remote Scottish Highlands with many van trips taken.” She lists St Kilda and the Western Isles as recent highlights.
In terms of favourite places to study and paint, she says: “I do love anywhere remote. The north-west coast, Assynt, Clachtoll, the Isle of Skye and Rannoch Moor being some places of inspiration.
“Scotland is my main focus right now,” continues Helen, “simply because it’s what I see and observe. I realise that people like to connect my work with specific places. They recognise places especially they themselves have been.
“I tend not to title my work with place names simply to allow for the imagination to come into play,” she points out.
Every Waking Moment is a collection of atmospheric and evocative works which Helen says “is simply about that appreciation of the things we see”.
Stop and linger
She adds: “We may become blase if we see big skies and wonderful cloud formations every day, but I see it as a reminder to stop and linger, and to look for longer.”
While some paintings are clear representations of locations that she has visited, Helen explains: “My work can tip into the abstract, but the landscape is used as a foil with which to express the idea. I see it as responding and reacting to what I see but with the liberty to move the idea back and forth between human experience.”
Taking the time to stop and stare is a skill that every artist must master, but it seems to be particularly pertinent in a time where the pace of life can be overwhelming at times.
For Helen, Every Waking Moment “is about observation and taking the time to take in the whole and the minutia, to notice and remember”.
She adds: “I find that this helps me translate what I see and encounter.”
Working in the field and in all weathers, Helen captures dynamic sketches of her subjects, catching the changing skies, nuances in the light and textures and tones of the land before bringing her studies back to her studio to be transformed into large and small-scale paintings.
“My work is intuitive,” she says. “Responding to marks made by loose washes. Oil, glazes and structure are then applied and removed to create movement and form.”
In terms of outside influences, she admits: “Artists are always inspired by others.” She has felt the need to step back from that influence in terms of her own output.
“Recently I’ve censored who and what I look at,” she explains. “Each painting has to live its own life without influence to make it true to the original idea and subject matter.”
Passage of time
When asked whether her images are an attempt to capture a moment in time, Helen points out that she is trying to do much more than that. “My paintings are an amalgamation of moment, imagination and place,” she says.
“I understand what you mean by snapshot, but I don’t see it as this. A day can unfold with different experiences in each hour, but the focus could also be painting the experience of a whole day.
“Therefore, capturing the ethereal and ephemeral nature of the weather, giving a sense of the passage of time.
“I think of these paintings as short stories, poems or even a piece of music, each to be taken at their own pace,” she continues.
“They stem from the day-to-day awareness and appreciation of nature, noticing the changing ambience and atmosphere of a place or moment.”
A keen walker – she has more than 150 Munros under her belt – Helen tries to conquer a few new hills each year, often finding fresh inspiration as she explores.
“I find it fascinating to get to know a place well but it’s not important to my work,” she reveals. “I do respond to new encounters of the landscape, new walks, new vistas. It creates different compositional possibilities.”
Walks in the hills seem to underline the fact that Scotland is a never-ending source book. Helen says: “Landscape seems to have a greater voice than humans. Every waking moment is one of wonder.”
Insta worthy
An artist with an active presence on social media, where she shares photos of locations, videos and insights into sketches and techniques and finished paintings, does Helen feel that she has to embrace this kind of interaction in order to be a successful artist?
“I don’t feel it’s important for my work,” she says, “but I have connected with many wonderful people and clients through Insta.
“It’s a lens through which people can see your methods and sources, and therefore builds a better understanding about where your work comes from. I also write short blogs on my website to give a greater insight.”
“Creativity has always moved with the times,” she points out. As the mother of a teenager, she is well aware of the impact of social media but, rather than seeing this way of interacting with our peers in a negative light, Helen says it can simply be “one of many ways teenagers express themselves – if used positively”.
The owner of Crieff’s Strathearn Gallery, Susan Bennett, is delighted to be able to show a complete collection of Helen’s work.
“After working with Helen for a number of years, this is the gallery’s first solo exhibition with her, so it’s fantastic to be able to showcase Helen’s paintings,” Susan says.
“As a gallery, we’re focused on showing the very best of Scottish contemporary art but in a way where everyone is welcome to come in and just take a moment to enjoy the art.
“Helen goes from strength to strength and with her atmospheric paintings, it’s easy to get lost in them and transported off to another place.”
Every Waking Moment by Helen Glassford is on display at the Strathearn Gallery in Crieff until June 25.
Conversation